1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to warp knitting machines, and in particular, to a warp knitting machine having two needle beds and a plurality of guide bars associated therewith for the forming of textured wear such as pile fabrics, velour fabrics and combinations thereof, or the like.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
In a warp knitting machine of the raschel type, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,820 issued to Karl Kohl on Dec. 24, 1974, utilizing latch needles that are opened and closed by the threads it is possible to obtain one fabric panel for each needle bed when at least one ground thread guide bar and one pile thread guide bar alternately lay threads upon the needles of first one and then the other needle bed so that the pile threads in both fabric panels are knotted in. Thereafter the panels are separated with the aid of a knife, thus providing the pile or velour threads in two separate panels. This permits the manufacture of two fabric panels simultaneously, each having pile velour on the left side of the fabric.
Other types of knitting machines for the fabrication of loop pile fabric wears have been limited to the manufacture of a single fabric panel. These machines produced loop pile fabric by providing a bed of plush fingers on one side of the needle bed. In this type of machine the pile threads are alternately laid about a needle and a plush finger. This yields a fabric panel in which the pile loops are located only on the left side of the fabric. If it is desired to produce pile loops on both the left and right side of the fabric or on the right side of the fabric it is necessary to provide a plush finger bed on the other side of the needle bed.
Other warp knitting machines for the production of loop pile fabric which do not use a plush finger (sometimes called a point bar) are known. In this type of machine the ground thread for the production of fabric wear is laid over the even numbered needles while the pile thread is laid alternately about the even and about the odd numbered needles. The pile loops are thus bound into the even numbered needles and are knocked over from the odd numbered needles during the following work cycle. The needles are opened and closed by means of a presser bar. Thus, depending on the position of the guide bars utilized, pile loops are provided on the left side, on the right side or on both sides of the fabric wear. The height of the loops provided on the left side of the fabric are substantially dependent upon the spacing between the needles.
It is possible to produce a pile velour fabric material by the machines discussed hereinbefore, however it requires the cutting of the pile loops. In order to do this it is necessary to provide a separate cutting machine. However, utilizing this technique is costly since it results in a substantial loss of the expensive pile material. Furthermore, an additional disadvantage is present with this type of procedure, since the conversion of the pile loops into pile is not 100% efficient and some of the pile loops remain uncut.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for a warp knitting machine wherein loop pile fabric can be produced in greater varieties than heretofore.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a warp knitting machine capable of providing pile fabric wear which combines loop pile and velour at various heights.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a warp knitting machine which can produce textured wear at substantially higher working speeds than presently in existence.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a warp knitting machine capable of providing fabric wear which may include pile loops and pile velour alternately or at the same time in the same fabric on one side thereof.